If you simply watch this as a play about a specific group of people at a particular time and place, it seems a bit dated. But the costumes are lovely and so is the set, so you get a nice theatrical experience.
Rattigan's play may focus on the bright young things and the generation that came after them, but the underlying subject is communication and the need for people to be honest with each other if they are to be happy together. Joan kills herself because she finally realizes that she has never been honest with David - never told him that she loves him, which is all he really wanted to know. John is honest with David, but then loses a life long friendship. Helen suffers from the ability of the young to delude themselves into thinking they are being honest when all they are being is insufferable and patronizing.
Terrific performances by Patrick Galligan as David, Marla Mclean as Helen and Neil Barclay as John stand out among very sold performances by the rest of the cast. I remain a Neil Barclay fan and would like to see him get a really big part, rather than being cast as the friend time and again.
I enjoyed it. The cast and whole performance were excellent. The datedness of the play is actually seeming less of a problem as we get further and further from this era - it is a period play now and you can enjoyed it on its own terms. This depends on the author, though, Somerset Maugham's The Circle last year I thought had more of a problem
ReplyDelete